Filemobile Blog

Posted by Jayson Ambrose on 23.03.10

Interview: CP24 Vice President and General Manager Bob McLaughlin answers questions about how CP24 uses citizen journalism in the newsroom.

Filemobile powers a user generated news community and tools that integrate into CP24's automated TV platform. This system allows CP24 to quickly call for and receive user generated content that can be used in a TV broadcast.

Filemobile's Steve Hulford sat down with Bob McLaughlin to discuss user generated content in the newsroom. They covered the following questions:

00:18 - What value does user generated news bring CP24?

01:06 - Is user generated news a threat or opportunity?

02:11 - Is user generated news a competitive advantage for CP24?

02:52 - Tell us how user generated news impacted the coverage of the Tornadoes on August 20th, 2009?

04:31 - What is the best way to ensure your audience sends user generated news?

On Thursday August 20, 2009, Ontario was hit with an unexpected storm. To keep up with what was going on, millions of viewers tuned into to channels like The Weather Network and CP24 (1.2 million viewers tuned in). The storm hit so unexpectedly that people were out carrying on with their normal day as funnel clouds closed in on them. This allowed for some seriously amazing user generated content.

With record breaking numbers of UGC being uploaded to the respective websites it was an opportunity for users to step in and replace the reporters. The excessive number of entries resulted in web content being aired on television to help cover the storm. CP24 noted their dependency on the UGC from their website which is powered by Filemobile's Media Factory "CP24 captured the storm’s progression, from emerging tornadoes and post-storm destruction, at one point relying almost 100 per cent on viewer footage harnessed by Filemobile technology. "

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Kyle McGuffin
24.03.2010Enabling the community to share stories. I think the corporate world needs to make more of an effort enabling their communities to share. Great story! Keep up the great work Filemobile!

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